42

DOCUMENTARY, DRAMA

All We See is Greatness

8.5 out of 10 | Worth

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Rated: PG-13 Thematic elements, including language
Release Date: April 12, 2013
Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes

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Director: Brian Helgeland
Writers: Brian Helgeland
Cast: Chadwick Boseman, T.R. Knight, Harrison Ford, Nicole Beharie. Lucas Black, Ryan Merriman, Hamish Linklater, John C. McGinley

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SYNOPSIS:  The life story of Jackie Robinson and his history-making signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers under the guidance of team executive Branch Rickey.

REVIEW: Writer/Director Brian Helgeland, started his writing career with A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and most recently wrote Robin Hood and adapted a screenplay for Green Zone. Now, Helgeland returns with a screenplay surrounding the man who would be 'The First'. Jackie Robinson would become the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era.

The Second World War has ended and red-blooded Americans have witnessed victory over Nazi Germany and the Imperial Empire of Japan. Brave men and women of all races, creeds, and walks of life work side-by-side to ensure victory. But when men of color returned from the war they found they were still subject to segregation. Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford, Cowboys and Aliens), Owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Rickey bucks decades of whites only baseball, by selecting a young African-American ballplayer from the Negro Leagues to fill one of the 400 spots in Major League Baseball. That man was a young ex-military, four sport UCLA student named Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman, The Kill Hole). As the first African-American baseball player sent to what is the modern era of the major league with all white players, Jackie Robinson faced hatred and racism by his own teammates, other league teams, passionate stadium crowds, and host cities. Only Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson's wife Rachel (Nicole Beharie, Shame) and a young African-American reporter named Wendell Smith (Andre Holland, Miracle at St. Anna) believe that Jackie could be destined for greatness.

42: The Story of Jackie Robinson focuses squarely on two men. The first is the athlete Jackie Robinson himself and the work and accomplishments of his rookie year in major league baseball. The second figure is that of the Brooklyn Dodgers ball club owner Branch Rickey. Jackie Robinson wasn't looking to make history as the first African-American major-league baseball player in the modern era. It was Branch Rickey who decided to buck convention, buck the odds, and buck public opinion by bringing the talented Robinson to the big leagues from the Negro League. While Rickey claimed that his reasons for bringing Jackie up was not a matter of black-and-white, but a matter of money-making green, Ricky did do something that most men at the time would not have even attempted. But even so, through the racial slurs, the taunts, and the threats, it was Jackie Robinson who needed to take the brunt of the public's perception of him. Everyone may have seen Robinson as a color, it was up to Robinson to make his teammates, the fans, and the nation of the possibilities of his greatness.

42 opens in Rickey's office as he makes his decision to make one of the 400 major-league baseball players a non-white man. From there we quickly follow the exploits of Jackie Robinson from the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro League, to the opportunity for Robinson to try out for the Dodgers' farm team - the Montréal Royals. Dealing with boos and cheers from the crowds Jackie Robinson proves that he can play ball with the best of them. From the Monarchs, Rickey brings Robinson up to the Brooklyn Dodgers, opening up a higher level of racial inequality and bigoted attitudes.

Several specific events represented on-screen show the lengths of venom that Jackie Robinson endured. The first involved a hotel letterhead declaration signed by his teammates that they would ever set out on the same field as Jackie Robinson. Branch Rickey and Dodgers manager Leo Durocher (Christopher Meloni, Law & Order: SVU) set out to quell that revolt. The second, and perhaps the most painful to watch, focuses on the racial rants from Phillies manager Ben Chapman (Alan Tudyk, Wreck-It Ralph). The last comes with Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black, Promised Land), a piece of hate mail he receives, and the decision he must make to either stand up for his hometown fan in Kentucky or the loyalty he has for his team. We are shown representative samples of what Robinson dealt with in his early seasons in the Major Leagues but none of them can truly or accurately capture the severity and indignities Robinson truly suffered.

Harrison Ford and Chadwick Boseman really do steal the show, keeping the focus on their relationship and the turmoil they collectively suffered through. Harrison Ford plays against type as the jolly old lover of baseball just trying to make a difference. Chadwick Boseman embodies the restraint, fortitude, and patience of a man who proclaimed that he 'was built to last'. Alan Tudyk as the Phillies manager Ben Chapman is the epiphany of a closed minded redneck who thinks he's in the right in the same moment where he's doing wrong. The actor who plays Wendell tried to act as Robinson's conscience but pales in comparison to Robinson himself. John C. McGinley (Alex Cross) brings a little bit of light-hearted novelty to the role of Red Barber as he announces each game for Dem Bums. The rest of the cast is a smattering of legendary ballplayers like Pee Wee Reese, Eddie Stanky (Jesse Luken, Justified) and others. There is one exchange between Robinson and Ralph Branca (Hamish Linklater, Battleship) concerning team showering that is near priceless.

42: The Story of Jackie Robinson peeks into the rookie year of a man who broke down barriers as he broke records. Tender sweet at times while difficult to swallow at other points, 42 will make you want to stand up and cheer for the underdog.

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Battleship

More than a Boardgame

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Rated: PG-13  Intense sequences of violence, action and destruction and for language
Release Date: May 18, 2012
Runtime:  2 hrs 11 mins

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Director: Peter Berg
Writers: Erich Hoeber, Jon Hoeber
Cast: Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgård, Rihanna, Brooklyn Decker, Tadanobu Asano, Liam Neeson, Peter MacNicol, John Tui, Hamish Linklater

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SYNOPSIS: During an international naval exercise off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii, the sudden appearance of alien warcraft cut-off three naval vessels inside an impenetrable dome of energy.

REVIEW: Writer, actor and director Peter Berg, picks one of the disciplines by sitting squarely in the director's chair to bring to life the Hasbro board to life. Known for the films Hancock, The Kingdom and Friday Night Lights, Berg is no stranger to dramas or action. Based on the source material of a simple Hasbro board game with plastic ships, red pegs, and a gridded map over blue, Erich and Jon Hoeber (Red, Whiteout) write up a classic summer disaster flick filled with firepower and fun.

Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch, John Carter of Mars) lives an underwhelming and free-wheeling life on the islands of Hawaii. With every rules he breaks or girl he dates, Alex puts his brother Commander Stone Hopper (Alexander Skarsgård, Straw Dogs) in tight situations by having to support him and give him a place to live. Finally fed up with his brother's antic, Stone enlists him into the Navy. As Alex's natural abilities speed him up the rank of Lieutenant, he still lives in the shadow of his commander brother. Meanwhile, scientists have discovered a planet similar to earth that could sustain humanoid life. The technicians use communications arrays and a deep orbit satellite to pulse a message to this found planet every 24 hours. When the United States Navy conducts their annual military exercises with other international military agencies, some of their vessels are confronted by alien warships responding to the message sent. Quickly, Stone and Alex ships and a Japanese destroyer are overtaken within an impenetrable domed barrier and left to defend and attack the alien aggressors with inferior hardware and weapons. As the situation becomes more dire on the sea for the Navies, the aliens create a beach head on the island in an attempt to try to establish communications back to their home planet.

Taking a simple board concept and creating a grandiose spectacle is no easy task. But as the might of the Pacific Fleet is set to sail for their military manuevers and four meteorite columns crash into the ocean and transform into a domed barrier generator and three water-skimming warships, the action ramps up to summer popcorn levels. The alien ships bristle with weaponry, hopping across the water like stones on a pond. Intelligent destructive mines, devices that are crosses between viscous porcipines and yo-yos and akin to Sonic the Hedgehog, carry out their razor sharp missions of destruction against structures, buildings and vessels with equal ease. Reminescent of the board game, Berg makes sure that the alien ships' offensive weapons are cylinders that spin up to speed, launch into the air and back down to their targets, embedding into the naval destroyer-class ships, and pressing deeper into the steel hulls before they explode massive holes in the sides of the hulls. With every aspect of CGI integrated so seamlessly, I didn't realize the connection between game pins and film shells until later. I tip my imaginary hat off to Berg for the quality of the visuals! I just wish the creative design team had spent a little more time on the creation of the actual alien beneath all of the superior technology.

Taylor Kitsch buzzes off his almost-signature locks to enlist in the United States Navy. He plays both the careless punk and the reluctant hero with equal ease. And he plays Alex as an unsure leader struggling in the shadow of more confident leaders like Alex's brother Stone (Skarsgard) and the gruff intimidating father figure Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson, The Grey). Alex, with all of his intelligence and natural leadership abilities, would rather put himself in harm's way than anyone under his command. Under his command are capable mates who would follow him into battle, including Petty Officer Cora "Weps" Raikes (Rihanna), Chief Petty Officer Walther 'The Beast' Lynch (John Tui, Power Rangers S.P.D.), and Boatswain Mate Seaman Jimmy 'Ordy' Ord (Jesse Plemons, Observe and Report). Rihanna proves that she is not just a singer, diving deep into a role to play with the big boys, Tui provides the brawn and Plemons adds the humors. These three do not have much meaningful dramatic dialogue, but they fulfill the disaster flick standard. Brooklyn Decker (Just Go With It) plays the Admiral's daughter and Alex's girlfriend and provides a little eye candy and a companion for the real-life double amputee Army Lieutenant Colonel Mick Canales (Gregory D. Gadson) who starts off wanting to give up the fight and end up taking on one of the aliens man-to-man, I mean, man-to-alien. Rounding out the main cast are Hamish Linklater (The New Adventures of Old Christine) as timid, but capable radar array technician Cal Zapata, and Tadanobu Asano (Thor) as Japanese Captain Yugi Nagata.

Peter Berg goes completely patriotic for this summer's disaster flick. Yes, The Avengers is a superhero flick of epic proportions, with gods and monsters staving off an alien armada. That movie has superheroes, Battleship has heroes. Berg makes sure to highlight the real heroes of the present and the heroes of the past. When Sam first goes to her physical therapy post, we see many fallen warriors with missing limbs and steely eyes looking far down range in an effort to again become the whole warriors they remain in their hearts, souls and minds. Gadson's Mick Canales epitomizes the challenges that these men face every day and the sacrifices they have made for their country and countrymen. For past heroes, we get a glimpse of the World War II sailors working the boilers and the turrets of the de-comissioned 'Mighty Mo' USS Missouri to get back into the fight against the alien enemy. Throw in AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck' during the battleship's ramp-up montage and you can't help but feel enormous pride in our soldiers and sailors.

Battleship is the perfect summer popcorn flick. Filled with humor, action, and aliens, this sea-faring film can be the movie to go see when you get to the box office and are told that The Avengers is still sold out. Don't let the precedence of board games-turned-to-film fool you, Battleship is not Clue, and will not be sunk!

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WORTH:  Matinee and BluRay